PA 6340
Domestic Social Policy
Summer 2008
Classroom: WSTC 1.216
Wednesday 6 – 10 p.m.
Richard K. Scotch
Office: GR3.510
Phone: 972-883-2922
Email: richard.scotch@utdallas.edu TA: Matt Openshaw <openshaw@utdallas.edu>
Office Hours: Wednesday 4-5 p.m. or by appointment in GR3.510
Domestic Social Policy examines governmental and nongovernmental programs, policies, and
institutions dealing with individuals and families who do not function self-sufficiently within the
American market economy. Beneficiaries of such programs include children and youth, the elderly,
families headed by unemployed or under-employed parents, and people with physical and mental
disabilities. We will begin with a conceptual and historical overview of how social policy in the
United States reflects political economy, culture, demographic trends, and social and political
institutions. We will continue with an examination of poverty, including its various definitions and
differing views on its causes and consequences, and the public policy responses to poverty in the
United States. The remainder of the course will examine a series of current American social policy
reform issues on topics including cash assistance (welfare), education, crime, health care, and
retirement. The class will be run as a seminar, with an emphasis on group discussion of assigned
readings and current issues in social policy
Course requirements include: 1) seven 3-4 page essays that will cover assigned readings and material
discussed in class. (10% of the total course grade each, totaling 60% – the lowest essay grade will be
dropped); 2) a policy briefing paper (30% of the total course grade); and 3) class participation (10%
of the total course grade).
Written assignments will be graded on your ability to respond appropriately to the assignment
through the application of course material; your demonstrated mastery of course concepts; the clarity,
persuasiveness, and organization of your writing; and your ability to support your analysis with
appropriate data and specific examples. Late assignments will be penalized unless prior approval is
received from the instructor. Students are responsible for following university rules for academic
honesty; violations will be referred to the Dean of Students for disciplinary proceedings.
Required readings include five required texts, which have been ordered at the UTD Bookstore and
Off Campus Books, and a variety of web-based material on current social policy issues. The books
are:
Elijah Anderson, Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner
City, W.W. Norton and Company, 1999
Sheldon H. Danziger and Robert H. Haveman (eds.), Understanding Poverty, Russell Sage
Foundation, 2002
Sharon Hays, Flat Broke with Children: Women in the Age of Welfare Reform, Oxford
University Press, 2003
Jennifer Hochschild and Nathan Scovronick, The American Dream and the Public Schools,
Oxford University Press, 2003
William Julius Wilson, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. Knopf,
1997
Course Outline (subject to revisions announced in class)
May 28
Introduction to the Course:
Definitions of Poverty
Historical Overview of Social Policy
No assigned reading
June 4
Historical Overview of Social Policy - continued
Poverty Trends and Policy Responses
Reading:
Danziger & Haveman, chapters 1-5
June 11
Inner City Poverty: Causes and Consequences
Library Instruction
Reading:
Wilson, all
ESSAY ONE DUE
TOPIC STATEMENT DUE
June 18
Cash Assistance and Indigent Health Programs
Reading:
Danziger & Haveman, chapters 6-8
ESSAY TWO DUE
June 25
Homelessness and Mental Illness
Reading: Web CT
ESSAY THREE DUE
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE
July 2
Education and Human Capital
Reading:
Danziger & Haveman, chapter 9
Hochschild & Scovronick, all
ESSAY FOUR DUE
July 9
Welfare Reform
Student Presentations
Reading:
Hays, all
ESSAY FIVE DUE
July 16
Social Security and Medicare
Student Presentations
POLICY BRIEFING PAPERS DUE
July 23
Culture, Crime, and the Inner City
Student Presentations
Reading:
Anderson, all
ESSAY SIX DUE
July 30
Disability
Student Presentations
Reading: Web CT
ESSAY SEVEN DUE
Guidelines for Policy Briefing Paper
The policy briefing paper involves an analysis of a recent or current domestic social policy issue
chosen in consultation with the instructor. Students may select any issue that falls within the broadly
defined field of domestic social policy. The choice may currently be or previously have been under
consideration by a legislative body; a public agency at the local, state, national or international level;
or a non-governmental/nonprofit organization. It may involve starting or significantly changing the
structure of a new program or terminating an existing program. Students with special interests in
social policy outside of the United States may address a topic involving the domestic social policy of
another nation, although additional contextual material may need to be presented for such a choice.
Students unsure about what topic to select are encouraged to meet with the instructor before the topic
is due. Students are encouraged to schedule conferences with the instructor as needed for assistance.
Research for the paper should include an examination of the significant peer-reviewed literature in
scholarly and professional journals and monographs on the topic, but may also incorporate analytic
material produced by policy scholars in public agencies, research organizations, and advocacy groups
as well as coverage and analysis of key policy developments in major periodicals, including national
newspapers, journals of opinion, and relevant web-based media.
The policy briefing paper will count 30% toward the final course grade. In order to ensure that the
paper is appropriately framed and researched, students are expected to submit a topic statement (on
June 11) and an annotated bibliography (on June 25) – details on both submissions are given below.
The final paper is due in class on July 16. Late papers will be subject to grading penalties, unless
prior approval has been given by the instructor. Students also are expected to give an oral
presentation of 10-15 minutes on their paper to the class – these will be scheduled during class
meetings in the last four weeks of the course.
Format Guidelines
The final paper should be approximately 12-15 double spaced pages, not including the title page
or any background material included as appendices. (Longer papers are discouraged, but
acceptable where the complexity of the topic requires further detail.) Papers should begin with a
title page, and be printed with page numbers, 1" margins, and a 10 or 12 point font. The
recommended organization for the paper includes the following major sections:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
An abstract of one paragraph that summarizes the major points of the paper.
A statement of the problem the proposal or choice is intended to address.
A summary of the relevant background factors that help explain the emergence of
the problem, which might include descriptions of relevant historical, demographic,
economic, political, or social trends that have contributed to or exacerbated the
problem and/or created a situation in which taking action is important.
A summary of the proposal to be analyzed, that includes the most significant
alternative choices under consideration (or that should be under consideration in
your view), which could include taking no action.
An analysis of the potential costs, benefits, and constraints (including relevant
economic/fiscal, political, legal, and cultural factors) associated with each policy
alternative – I am not looking for a formal financial analysis, here, but rather a
conceptual assessment of advantages, disadvantages, barriers, resources, etc.
A conclusion that provides your recommendations about which policy choice
should be taken, that builds on your analysis.
Topic Statement (due June 11)
The topic statement should consist of a paragraph or two that briefly summarizes the policy problem
to be addressed, explains why the problem is significant, and states what alternative actions or
strategies have been proposed to resolve the problem. Ideally, your topic should be presented in the
form of a question that you will be attempting to answer.
Annotated Bibliography (due June 25)
The annotated bibliography should consist of a tentative list of the sources you will use for your
paper that includes full bibliographic material for each source and a brief (one or two sentence)
description of the material found in the source. For Internet sources, the URL, sponsoring
organization for the site, and date of access should be given.
Citation of Sources
Students in the course are expected to use citation styles recommended for use by the PA program
faculty (Turabian). In any case, citation should be used consistently, and with sufficient information
provided on the works cited. Any citations for Internet sources should include the complete URL
and the data on which the material was obtained. Any students wishing further guidance on related
issues should consult with the course instructor.
Academic Integrity
The faculty expects from its students a high level of responsibility and academic honesty. Because
the value of an academic degree depends upon the absolute integrity of the work done by the student
for that degree, it is imperative that a student demonstrate a high standard of individual honor in his
or her scholastic work. Scholastic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, statements, acts or
omissions related to applications for enrollment or the award of a degree, and/or the submission as
one’s own work or material that is not one’s own. As a general rule, scholastic dishonesty involves
one of the following acts: cheating, plagiarism, collusion and/or falsifying academic records.
Students suspected of academic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary proceedings. Plagiarism,
especially from the web, from portions of papers for other classes, and from any other source is
unacceptable and will be dealt with under the university’s policy on plagiarism.
Student Conduct & Discipline
The University of Texas System and The University of Texas at Dallas have rules and regulations for
the orderly and efficient conduct of their business. It is the responsibility of each student and each
student organization to be knowledgeable about the rules and regulations which govern student
conduct and activities. The University of Texas at Dallas administers student discipline within the
procedures of recognized and established due process. Procedures are defined and described in the
Rules and Regulations, Board of Regents, The University of Texas System, Part 1, Chapter VI,
Section 3, and in Title V, Rules on Student Services and Activities of the university’s Handbook of
Operating Procedures. Copies of these rules and regulations are available to students in the Office
of the Dean of Students, where staff members are available to assist students in interpreting the rules
and regulations. A student at the university neither loses the rights nor escapes the responsibilities of
citizenship. He or she is expected to obey federal, state, and local laws as well as the Regents’
Rules, university regulations, and administrative rules. Students are subject to discipline for
violating the standards of conduct whether such conduct takes place on or off campus, or whether
civil or criminal penalties are also imposed for such conduct.
In-Class Computer and Cell Phone Policy
Use of electronic equipment such as laptop/notebook computers and cell phones can be distracting to
the conduct of a seminar-style class such as this course. Accordingly, computer and cell phone use
will not be permitted in this course while class is in session except under extraordinary
circumstances, and with the explicit prior permission of the instructor.
Email Use
The university encourages all official student email correspondence be sent only to a student’s U.T.
Dallas email address and that faculty and staff consider email from students official only if it
originates from a UTD student account.
Withdrawal from Class
UTD has set deadlines and procedures for withdrawal from any courses. These dates and times are
published in the semester's academic calendar. It is the student's responsibility to handle withdrawal
requirements from any class, and students, not the instructor, are responsible for completing the
proper paperwork for drops and withdrawals within the prescribed deadlines.
Incomplete Grade Policy
Incomplete grades will be granted only for work unavoidably missed at the semester’s end and only
if 70% of the course work has been completed. An incomplete grade must be resolved within eight
(8) weeks from the first day of the subsequent long semester. If the work required to complete the
course is not submitted in time to be graded before that deadline, the incomplete grade will be
changed automatically to a grade of F.
Student Grievance Procedures
Procedures for student grievances are found in Title V, Rules on Student Services and Activities, of
the university’s Handbook of Operating Procedures. In attempting to resolve any student grievance
regarding grades, evaluations, or other fulfillments of academic responsibility, it is the obligation of
the student first to make a serious effort to resolve the matter with the instructor, supervisor,
administrator, or committee with whom the grievance originates (hereafter called “the respondent”).
Individual faculty members retain primary responsibility for assigning grades and evaluations. If the
matter cannot be resolved at that level, the grievance must be submitted in writing to the respondent
with a copy of the respondent’s School Dean. If the matter is not resolved by the written response
provided by the respondent, the student may submit a written appeal to the School Dean. If the
grievance is not resolved by the School Dean’s decision, the student may make a written appeal to
the Dean of Graduate or Undergraduate Education, and the deal will appoint and convene an
Academic Appeals Panel. The decision of the Academic Appeals Panel is final. The results of the
academic appeals process will be distributed to all involved parties. Copies of these rules and
regulations are available to students in the Office of the Dean of Students, where staff members are
available to assist students in interpreting the rules and regulations.
Disability Services
It is the student’s responsibility to notify instructors of the need for any accommodation through
procedures specified by the Disability Services Office. Individuals requiring special accommodation
should contact the professor before or after class, or during office hours.